Sophias Return
by dixon11
Summary: What If Daryl found Sophia in the house he found with the slept in cabinet? How would that change the lives of Carol and Daryl? Mostly caryl will have some meth as well. Will be AU as Sophia and merle are going to be alive. Rated m for future smut!
1. Chapter 1

"Sophia! Sophia! Sophia you here?" I had just come upon an old farm-house, checked the perimeter for any walkers and didn't see any so I made my way inside the two-story house. Made a sweep of the downstairs and found a cabinet thAt looked like it had been slept in. As I was staring at the inside of the cabinet I heard a creaking from upstairs. Silently I made my way up the stairs and started checking the rooms, didn't hear any groans or shuffling to indicate any walkers. When I got to the last bedroom I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Sophia?" I quietly asked as not to spook her.

"Mr. Daryl? Oh my goodness I can't believe someone found me!" Sophia promptly ran into me, wrapping her arms around my middle. I stood frozen, but managed to wrap my arms around her.

"Ok ok let's get going. I'm sure your momma will be excited to see ya. We're holed up at another farm-house. There's something else you should know `this."

"What Mr. Daryl?"

"When we were looking for you, there was an accident. Carl was shot."

"What?!" She started to cry.

"Hey hey he's fine. The family that were with fixed him up, but he is still recovering."

"Ok, I just wanna go and see my momma."

"Ok let's go kid." I motioned for her to follow me outside. When I rounded the corner I saw a patch of Cherokee roses.

"Hey `phia, you see those flowers over there?" I pointed them out to her.

"Yeah, should we pick some for momma?"

"Yeah, go ahead I'll stand guard while you do." So she went over to the flowers. Meanwhile I surveyed the land to see if there was anything coming our way. Only saw a squirrel so I went and killed it quickly and retrieved it. When I got back she had seen the bloody squirrel and made a face.

"That's gross" and stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah yeah, it's food. Come on you done picking them roses?"

"Yeah we can go. I think momma is gonna love them."

"Ok `phia, now listen, we have about an hour walk back to the house and we have to go through the woods. I need you to be as quiet as possible and always stay by me. No wondering off."

"Ok Mr. Daryl I promise." So we started on our journey. We had to stop every once in a while to make sure we weren't being followed and so I could keep her hydrated. We were about halfway there when we came up in a couple of walkers. I pulled my crossbow off my shoulder and quickly took out the closest one. I looked down at her and she looked absolutely terrified, which is to be expected after what she gone through.

"Its ok `phia. Just stick close." All she did was nod. When the next one got close you could hear her whimpering and I immediately felt horrible for not looking harder to find her. Finally the last came in range and I quickly dispatched it. When I was sure that it was the last one I went and retrieved my arrows.

"Are they gone Mr. Daryl?"

"Yeah `phia there gone." I looked down at her and saw that she was shivering and rubbing her arms with her hands trying to make some kind of heat. So I took off my leather vest and held it out to her.

"Here `phia put this on. Don't want you to get sick, your momma`s done enough worrying already." Again all she did was nod and put it on. I motioned for her to start walking again. About what felt like 20 minutes went by we could finally see the clearing.

"See that house up there?"

"Yeah"

"Carl's in the house with his parents but everyone else is camped outside. What I wanna do is surprise your momma."

"Ok how?"

"There's so.e trees right by our camp, I want you to hide behind one while I go into Dale`s RV to get your momma, once you hear us leave the RV come out from behind the tree. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Definitely Mr. Daryl. I can't wait!"

"Ok, see that tree right there?" I pointed out the tree that was about three feet away from the RV.

"Yupp, I'll go hide now."

"Ok, and remember the signal to come out."

"I will, don't worry." So I made my way over to the RV , as I passed the group I could see the smiles from everyone, so I put my finger up to my lips so they wouldn't mess this up and they went back to their daily chores. As I arrived at the RV, I opened the door and went to the back where I knew I'd find her.

"Hey Carol"

"Hi Daryl, how did the search go today?"

"Why don't you see for yourself. Come on, I have something to show you." I motioned for her to get up and follow me out of the RV.

"Come on, this way."

"What Daryl, i don't see ..."

**Read and review also I don't own anything with the walking dead just like to write the characters doing things I wish would happen**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. still don't own anything sadly :( The story will follow what's happened in the show(farm over run, prison, woodbury).**

**Without further ado here's the next chapter, enjoy! **

**Daryl's POV**

I watched as Sophia came out from the back of the tree. Carol immediately started to run to her.

"Oh my god, Sophia!" Everyone else in camp turned their heads to see the reunion of the mother and daughter.

"Are you ok Sophia, you weren't bit or scratched were you?"

"No momma, I'm fine. Mr. Daryl found me at a house, he also found these flowers momma. He said their called Cherokee roses."

"There beautiful" She turned towards me and mouthed thank you. I nodded and turned towards my tent, wanting to just relax for a bit.

**Carol's POV**

I couldn't believe my daughter was safe and back where she was supposed to be. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay him for bringing her back. I ushered Sophia into the RV so we could get her cleaned up and change her clothes.

"Momma?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Can we burn these clothes? I don't ever want to see them or wear them again."

"Sure sweetie, just throw them to the side and we can burn them later." As I waited for her to come out of the bathroom I took the roses and put them in a glass of water, hoping they wouldn't die too quickly.

"Ok momma I'm done."

"Ok, lets go see what's for dinner."

"Mr. Daryl shot a squirrel today while I was getting the roses."

"Well lets go see what we can go do with that shall we?" Sophia nodded and we made our way out of the RV and to the campfire and all of the group looked at us, smiling and relieved that she was back safe.

"I'm so glad you back Sophia, Carl's been asking about you. How about we get something into your tummy and if it's alright with you mom, we can go visit him after." said Lori. Sophia looked up at me expectantly.

"That sounds just fine to me." _That would actually be great, that way I can go talk to Daryl. _"Sophia why don't you go and see if Daryl's hungry. His tent is right over there." I pointed in the direction of his tent.

"Ok momma, be right back." I watched as she went over to his tent.

**Daryl's POV**

I heard footsteps coming over by my tent, so I decided to get up and see what the hell they wanted.

"Mr. Daryl are you awake?"

"Yeah 'phia, whatcha need?"

"Momma said that dinners ready and she sent me to come ask if you were hungry."

"I'll be right there 'Phia."

"Ok Mr. Daryl. Don't take too long."

"Yeah, yeah." I gruffed. Once I heard her footsteps start to lessen, I got my shirt on and my boots, grabbed my crossbow and headed out to see what was for supper. As I neared the campfire, everyone was already around it with their food, and the only place that was left was by Sophia. So I went and grabbed my plate and just stood while I ate.

"Mr. Daryl you can sit by me, I don't mind." The look on the girls face said that she wasn't taking no for an answer, so I sat down by her and finished off my plate.

"So Daryl, where did you find her?" asked Rick.

"She was holed up in a farm-house about an hours walk into the woods. Looked like she had slept in a cabinet. When I found her though, she was upstairs in a bedroom." I explained.

"Well I'm just glad that your both back safe. I know Carl is looking forward to seeing you tonight Sophia." Rick said. I looked down at her and she was blushing something awful from all the attention she was getting.

"How are you feeling 'phia?"

"I'm ok Mr. Daryl. Oh momma can I go get my clothes that I was wearing and throw them in the fire now?" Sophia asked.

"Are you finished with you dinner?"

"Yes momma."

"Then go ahead." So she hurriedly went to the RV to collect the clothes that she was wearing. As she was coming back out she had a big smile on her face, and once she put the clothes in the fire, it got a little bigger. Carol got up and hugged her and started to gather up the dishes.

"Momma I'm gonna go with Mr. Rick to see Carl."

"Ok baby, have fun." When I was finished with my dinner, I got up and gave my dish to Carol.

"Hey Daryl, wait." I waited for her to put down whatever she was working on and to start her way over to me.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I just wanna thank you for bringing back my little girl. You'll never understand what that means to me."

"Nothing Shane or Rick wouldn't have done."

"You've done more for my little girl today than her own father did in her entire life, your every bit as good as them, every bit." She smiled teary eyed and went back to finish the dishes, while I pondered what she exactly meant by that.

**Sophia's POV**

I followed Mr. Rick inside the house to where Carl was staying until he healed up enough.

"He's right through that door. Were gonna go talk to Hershel while you two catch up, ok?"

"Ok." I smiled and headed for the room, I knocked on the door but heard nothing so I went inside to see what he was doing. As soon as I opened the door his eyes popped open.

"Sophia!"

"Hey Carl, how are you doin?" I asked.

"I'm doing alright, how are you?"

"Fine." I said looking down at my feet.

"You know you can talk to me if you need to right? I'll always be here for you."

"Yeah I know. I guess I feel guilty that you here with a gunshot would because of me. If I had just stayed put none of the would have ever happened!" I didn't realize that I had started to cry until he reached out to wipe some tears away.

"Hey, you have nothing to feel guilty about. I would do it all over again. Your my best friend Sophia, I'd do anything for you." I sat a little closer to him so I could hug him without hurting him.

"Thanks Carl, I feel the same way about you. So what do you do for fun in here?"

"Nothing, Hershel has some playing cards in here, but no one stays around long enough to play with me."

"I'll play with ya."

"Ok, the cards are over there on the dresser." He pointed them out and I went and retrieved them.

"So whatcha wanna play?"

**A.N. Please review, I would love to hear any kind of feedback you guys have. Also the buildup will be gradual between our favorite couple. **

**Next chapter will be the barn scene and the farm being over run. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N. Don't own anything but wish I did. Decided not to do the farm over run scene yet. So I'm going to focus on the barn scene and maybe throw Randal in as well, we'll see. Enjoy!**

**Daryl's POV**

As morning came around, I got up and went hunting. The woods have always calmed me and I just have this feeling that something is gonna happen soon. I looked down at the forest floor and saw some deer tracks. They were pretty easy to follow and only saw a couple walkers and they were easy to take down. I finally found the buck about fifty yards away, was a pretty good sized one too. I took the shot, and it fell down right in its spot. I field dressed the deer and dragged it back to camp for the women to cut up. Once I got there I saw everyone was huddled around in a group.

"What's goin on?"

"Glenn has some news for us evidently and he wanted to wait till you were back." said Carol.

"Ok, out with it then."

"Ok, there's walkers in the barn." My eyes got big and there was an audible gasp all around camp. Shane immediately went running to the barn, everyone hot on his tail.

"Sophia, Carl go up to the house and play for a while ok?" I heard Carol say to both kids.

"Yes momma, come on Carl, I'll beat you at war again." I heard her laugh as they made their way back into the house. Once we were all down by the barn, Shane started banging on the barn door.

"Enough Shane, let me go talk to Hershel about this."

"Whatever you think is best Rick." Shane said sarcastically.

"Just simmer down."

"No I'm gonna set up watch for the barn, its not safe to have walkers in our backyard!"

"Fine Shane, do what you want, that's what you've always done anyway." Rick said. Rick made his way up to the house to speak with Hershel and the rest of the group, minus Shane dispersed to do their daily chores.

**Carol's POV**

I went back to camp, feeling anxious about the barn but knew if it got out of hand it would be taken care of, and so glad that Sophia didn't end up in there with them. I went up to the house to gather the kids up for their daily lessons.

"Carl, Sophia come on, its time for your lessons." I could hear them groan their disappointment and I chuckled to myself.

"Were coming momma." I waited for them to come out of the bedroom where they were playing and had them follow me to the table. About twenty minutes later we had finished with the problems and reading so I deemed them done for the day.

"Ok kids, you can go play, just stay close to camp where we can see you and stay away from the barn."

"Yes momma." I wondered over to the spot daryl had left the deer for us to cut up. At least he had field dressed it, that was the gross part. I heard footsteps come up behind me and I froze, I scolded myself as I knew it was only daryl.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"Not much, just seein what you was doin." I smiled to myself and looked up at him, he looked a little nervous about something.

"What's wrong daryl? You seem nervous, something bothering you?"

"Was wondering if you would take a walk with me. When I was out hunting this morning I found a patch of them roses by the water, wanted to show you them."

"Yeah, let me finish up with the deer, I'm almost done. You should ask Sophia to come, I bet she'd love to see it too." I looked up at him to see him shifting his weight from side to side. "She won't bit you." I said jokingly. He grunted and went to find her. I smiled at his retreating form. _Damn he has a great ass in those jeans. _

**Sophia's POV**

I looked up and saw daryl coming our way, looking a little nervous.

"What's up Mr. Daryl?"

"After yer momma is done with the deer that I got this morning, I have something to show the both of ya."

"Ok are we leaving now or..?"

"In a little bit, we'll come getcha when she's done."

"Ok Mr. Daryl." I watched him walk away back towards where my momma was cutting up the deer. I looked back over at Carl who was just standing there with his mouth open a little bit.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"He has something to show me and my momma. I don't know what though."

"Well lets finish our game before he comes back."

**Daryl's POV**

I don't know why I'm so damn nervous, it's just Carol and 'Phia, it's not like I'm not around them everyday.

I walked back over to Carol to see that she was almost finished with the deer.

"You done?"

"Yeah, the rest of this meat we'll cook up tonight for dinner."

"Ok, come on, let's go get 'Phia." I headed back in the direction that I just came from.

"Sweetie, come on daryl wants to show us something."

"Ok momma." she caught up to us.

"We have to walk a little bit, but not too far."

"Ok, show us the way." I lead them into the woods, it didn't take but 15 minutes to get to the little pond that had the Cherokee roses lining it. I stepped to the side so they could get the full view.

"Oh momma its beautiful here. Thank you Mr. Daryl for bringing us here!"

"No problem 'phia, glad you like it. What about you Carol?" I asked her.

"I've never seen anything so pretty. I'm glad you brought us here, that way I can pick some more of those roses." I held out my pocket knife so she could cut some down. When her and 'phia were done we made our way back to the farm. Just before we got back to camp I took two of the flowers and put one behind each of their ears. They both smiled at me, and I could feel the blush rising in my cheeks. I turned my head just as  
Shane emerged from the woods with the bag of guns. He came up beside me and handed me a gun.

"You with us?" I nodded. He handed one to Glenn and then headed down to the barn. Once there we could see Rick and Hershel leading two walkers to the barn.

"Rick it aint like it was before, the problem needs to be dealt with right away."

"Shane its not out call. This is Hershel's farm and his family in there."

"That's too bad. I'm taking care of the problem now." He then went over to the barn door and beat the lock off the door.

"Carol, 'phia stay back." They both nodded in agreement. The walkers had started to pour out of the barn and shots immediately started going off. Once it was over we had gathered Hershel's wife and son and buried them by Otis and piled the rest of the bodies in the back of the pick up truck to go burn them. I looked over at Sophia and Carol and they both looked relieved now that the threat was gone. If only they knew the repercussions of what went down at the barn.

**A.N. didn't get to the Randal part yet, but that's just something to look forward too. So that will be the next chapter which I have already started working on by the way. Hope you enjoyed and please review! ****J**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. So this chapter is kind of an in between chapter, it involves the scene where Lori asked Daryl if he would go get Rick and Hershel from that bar and I threw in a little some extra with Carol and Sophia. Just wanted to thank LostOne1775 and vickih for reviewing and also my followers.**

**But enough with my little rant, on with the story, enjoy!**

**Daryl's POV**

Olive oyl just stopped by my little camp that I setup a ways away from the group. Evidently rick and glenn had gone after Hershel cuz beth or whatever her name is collapsed in the house.

"You want him, go fetch him yourself."

"How can you be so selfish?" Lori asked.

"Don't talk to me about getting my hands dirty. I went out and searched for Sophia and found her, I took out the barn walkers, I feed you people for fucks sake, so why don't you get off your damn high horse and do something yourself for once instead of asking everyone else to handle it for you." She had the decency to look a little ashamed of herself before turning around and storming back towards camp. I went back to making some more arrows for myself. I didn't hear from anyone till carol came to my little camp looking worried.

"Have you seen lori?"

"She came through about half hour ago, wanted me to go fetch rick and Hershel. Told her to go fetch them herself, sick of her asking everyone else to do stuff for her when she's perfectly capable herself." She sighed and turned around and headed back towards the house.

**Carol's POV**

I can't say I blame him for saying those things about lori, but he could have let us know what happened. As I got back into camp, shane came up and asked if he saw her.

"He said that she came over by him a little over half an hour ago, he said she wanted him to go get rick and Hershel but he said no. So my guess is that she went on her own."

"Ok, I'm gonna go make sure she got there fine, I'll be back." he grabbed his gun and took off.

"Sophia, carl come on it's time for you lessons." they groaned and headed over to the table to start the problems for today. I kept glancing over where daryl was, wondering why he distanced himself from us. I knew Sophia missed seeing him around camp and I did as well.

"Momma, why's Mr. Daryl over there by himself?"

"I don't know sweetie."

"Maybe we should go visit him, he looks lonely."

"How about we go make something for dinner and bring it to him."

"Yeah that sounds great!"

"Ok, finish your last couple problems and then we can start on dinner."

"Ok momma." She finished up the problems and I looked both of their papers over before deeming them good for the day.

"Sophia do you wanna help with dinner?"

"Sure momma." I motioned for her to follow me.

"Oh carl, you can go over by dale, I think he has something for you, a book or something. Go check it out."

"Ok carol, see ya at dinner." I nodded . We got over to the area were the fire was.

"Looks like we still have some deer meat left. How about we make a stew out of it. Sounds good don't it sweetie?"

"Yeah momma, I like deer meat more than squirrel meat." I chuckled.

"Yeah it does taste better." I gathered the meat up and some other supplies and started the stew. I looked up when I heard a car coming down the driveway. It seemed that shane had found lori.

"Where'd you find her?" I could see a cut on her forehead that looked painful.

"From the looks of what I found, she had flipped the car and had to fight some walkers off, but I found her just a little ways down the road walking. So I picked her up and brought her back."

"You told me rick was back already! You lied to me! How could you?"

"You don't only have yourself to think about anymore lori." we all gasped.

"Well that's just fucking great! Can't keep your damn legs together during the damn apocalypse! Ever heard of a condom?" No one heard daryl come over by us.

"Screw you daryl" said lori and stalked over to the house to go attend to her wound. I turned around so I was face-to-face with daryl.

"well nice of you to grace us with your presence. Me and Sophia were gonna come and bring you your dinner."

"Heard the care come, figured it was rick coming back, so I came to see what happened." I nodded and went back to the stew, stirring it.

"How come you moved away from us?" I asked, not looking up.

"Just needed some space, everyone's on top of everyone around here, gets irritating after a while."

"Yeah I know. Me and Sophia aren't bothering you are we?"

"No, you and 'phia are the only ones that don't irritate the hell out of me." I smiled.

"That's good, cuz Sophia misses seeing you around here. She like you, you know."

"Yeah." he blushed.

"So whatcha been up to in your little hideout?"

"Nothing much, still go out hunting in the mornings, mostly just make some new arrows."

"Well you are more than welcome to come and teach the kids." I teased, he snorted.

"The only thing I can teach is how to defend yerself."

"Maybe we should od that for her and carl, couldn't hurt none. I wouldn't mind learning some stuff too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, well why don't we start after dinner tonight with you and 'phia. Don't wanna involve carl till rick gets back."

"Ok, we can come over by your camp so that way we don't attract attention."

"Ok sounds good. Do you have any weapons? Knives, guns, anything?"

"I have a knife, but Sophia doesn't."

"Ok, I'll see what I have that'll work for her."

"Kay, I'm gonna go check on dinner again, should be almost done." he nodded and went back over to his hideout.

"Sophia come here a sec."

"What momma?"

"When we bring daryl his dinner, were gonna stay and eat with him and after we'll be taking some defense classes."

"I don't know momma, I don't have anything to practice with."

"I know, he's looking for something for you to practice with. He'll find something."

"Ok momma, I think dinner is done but would you check to make sure?"

"Yeah sweetie, why don't you go get the bowls and spoons from the RV?" She nodded and headed into the RV.

"Dinners ready everyone!" They started to line up, Sophia came and gave everyone a bowl and a spoon. Shane took lori's with him up to the house and me and Sophia were last with daryl's portion.

"Were gonna go give this to daryl." They looked up and nodded and smiled. I motioned for Sophia to follow me out to daryl's hideout.

**Sophia's POV**

I carried my bowl and his over to his tent area.

"Mr. Daryl, we have dinner." he came out of his tent.

"Good I'm hungry." We ate in silence and once we were done, he went back into his tent to bring out a small knife.

"Here 'phia, this will be your knife till you can use something a little bigger."

"Ok Mr. Daryl. There's always been one thing I wanted to try."

"What's that?"

"A bow, don't they have ones just for kids?"

"Yeah, I'll tell ya what, you do good here tonight and the next run we do, I'll stop by a sporting goods store to see if I can find one for ya." I squealed.

"Thank you Mr. Daryl!"

"Don't thank me yet, we have to start with tonight's practice. So what I did is over by the fence I made a little spot up where we can start practice." I looked over at my mom and followed them over there.

**Daryl's POV**

I had to admit that I was a little nervous to start the practice but I knew they needed to learn.

"Ok, so the first thing were gonna do is teach you how to hold your knife properly. You don't wanna hold it too tight and don't hold it too loose otherwise your just gonna hurt yourself." They both nodded. I showed them how I hold my knife and they were able to recreate it pretty well.

"Ok, now you know where to kill walkers right?"

"Yupp the head." Sophia said proudly.

"Yeah, gotta make sure it's the brain, now the easiest way is through the ear or the eye. It'll be the softest place. There's also the base of the back of the head. Carol you would probably be able to get the knife in through the temple. It's a little harder, but still easier than going through the top of the head with the thick skull."

"Ok, so how are we gonna practice killing walkers?"

"I figured what we would do today is just practice how to hold the knife without hurting yourself and how to strike and then tomorrow I can go out and get some walkers. I'll kill them first of course. Just want ya to learn where to put your knife first before I put you in front of a live one."

"Ok sounds good daryl."

It was around dusk when we finished and they headed back to camp.

"Ya did good 'phia!" I yelled after them, she turned around and came flying towards me, wrapping her arms around me.

"Thank you Mr. Daryl. See you tomorrow."

"Sure will 'phia." I ushered her back over to her momma and went back into my tent, ready to retire for the night.

In the morning, I made myself get up and go get breakfast with the group. By the time I got there everyone was already up and busy.

"Mornin daryl. Here's your breakfast." Carol handed me my food and I sat down near Sophia who was already eating.

"Hi Mr. Daryl."

"Hey 'phia." I continued eating, then lori and shane came out of the house with carl behind them.

"Hey daryl, I'm thinking that we should go see what's keeping rick and Hershel and glenn." shane said.

"Fine let's finish eating and get our shit together." He nodded and went to get his food. I was done before him so I gathered up my gear and put it in the car, I was just about to put my crossbow in the back when we heard tires coming down the driveway. As they came to a stop in front of us, Lori and carl ran over to rick and Hershel got out of the car as well asking his daughter maggie to gather up the surgical supplies. I went over to ask what took so long but as I walked past the car I glanced in the back.

"Who the hell is this?" Everyone turned.

**A.N. So everything Randal related will be happening next chapter, hope you liked this one, already started working on the next one. Please read and review! ****J**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: don't own anything ;(**

**A.N. I wanna thank you for the reviews they mean a lot especially to a first time writer. This chapter will be centered around Randal completely. Hope you like it ****J**

**Daryl's POV**

Rick explained what had happened, they had found Hershel in the town bar and two men came into that bar, Rick fired on them and then the rest of their group came lookin for them. During the shootout, this idiot tried to jump off a roof but got impaled on a metal rod. Rick being the good guy he is, just couldn't leave him, so he pulled his off the rod and dumped him in the truck.

"Great, so now what do we do with him?"

"Hershel's gonna fix him up best he can than me and Shane will take him far away and drop him off. Just waiting on Hershel to let us know how long it will be before he can be let go." they had taken the idiot into the house about half an hour ago. Hershel finally came out of the house.

"I repaired the muscle as best I could, he'll be hold up for about a week and then he should be good to go." he said.

"Then its settled, a week from now me and Shane will take him far away from here and leave him." Everyone nodded and started to dissipate. I ventured over to where carol and Sophia were standing.

"Hey, I want you to stay away from him. Don't trust him."

"Don't worry Daryl, we won't go near him." I nodded and grabbed my crossbow and headed for the woods. I just kept having this bad feeling that something was coming, something bad.

**Carol's POV**

I watched Daryl stalk off to the woods, I knew that was his place to relieve his stress, where he felt more comfortable. But I always get a little anxious every time he goes. It was my turn to do laundry, so I went around and got the dirty clothes. I decided to head over to Daryl's hideout and get his clothes so he would have something clean, and by the looks of his jeans, they would need to be repaired. So I went back to camp, got some water from the pump and started. I did Daryl's last because I wanted to stitch them up first, which took a little bit longer than expected. When I looked up after finishing that, Daryl was coming back from the woods with some squirrels.

"You can put them over there, I'll take care of them after I finish with these clothes."

"Are them my pants?' he asked.

"Yeah, I figured that you could use some clean clothes and your jeans here needed to be repaired at the knee something horrible."

"Well, um…thank ya."

"Its not a problem."

"So I was thinking that we could continue doing our training tonight after dinner?"

"Yeah sounds great. We'll bring you your plate and we can do what we did last time."

"Ok, well I'm gonna go see about finding me some walkers and bringing them back to my camp. I'll see ya later." I nodded and took the laundry over to the clothes line to hang up to dry. I scanned the area to make sure I could see Sophia, she was over by Carl and Lori doing their lessons for the day. I wondered back over to where Daryl had put the squirrels and began to skin it and cut up the meat.

"What are we having for dinner?" I jumped and turned around.

"Oh Sophia you scared me."

"Sorry momma."

"It's fine sweetie, I don't know yet, Daryl found us some squirrel while he was out in the woods earlier. I just finished chopping it up."

"Do we have any rice still?" she asked, I looked around at our supplies and sure enough we did have some.

"Yupp, looks like we do."

"We should have that and the meat."

"Sounds good. Oh Daryl said that after dinner were gonna continue doing our training."

"So that means we can eat with him again?"

"Yeah."

"Good, I like Daryl." I smile at my daughter and began to make dinner. My mind began to wander thinking about training tonight. I hope I don't disappoint Daryl, I want him to be proud of me and Sophia.

**Daryl's POV**

As I got back to my camp, I gathered up my extra arrows and my knife and set out to go find a couple walkers for practice tonight. It didn't take long to hear the telltale signs of them coming, the groans and the shuffling. I waited behind a tree till they showed their ugly faces and when they were finally in range I look them both out quickly. Luckily I hadn't had to venture too far into the woods to get them so it didn't take long to drag them back to the practice area. Before I knew it, Carol and Sophia had made their way over to my camp by the little fire I had going.

"Here's your dinner." Carol handed me my plate and some water.

"Thanks." I mumbled, she smiled and sat down to start eating, Sophia next to her. After we were done eating, I motioned for them to come over by the practice area.

"You both got your knives on you?"

"Yupp I got both mine and Sophia's."

"Good, before ya brought dinner, I went into the woods and killed a couple walkers so we can practice on them."

"Sounds good." Sophia nodded and grabbed her knife.

"Remember how to hold it?" I asked 'phia.

"Yeah" she showed me and I nodded my approval.

"Ok good, now remember where I told ya to kill 'em?"

"The eyes, the ear and the base of the skull or the temple if you can manage." Carol said.

"Good, ya go first Carol, show Sophia watcha got." I winked at Sophia and she giggled. I watched her go to her walker and proceed to try and get the knife through the skull. She did get the knife through the ear and the eye.

"See that was good, I would stick with those two places for the knives. Ok 'phia your turn." she turned towards the remaining walker and was hesitant to come near it. She looked up at me and I nodded to her. She had a good grip on her knife and went to stab the walker in the eye, she did really good.

"Ok 'phia that was really good. What I'm worried about with you is that since your kinda short you might have a hard time reaching up to kill them. So what I would do is either try to trip them or kick them in one of the legs that way it will be at the same level as you."

"Ok Mr. Daryl, I will. Thank you for teaching me, no one else will take me seriously back at camp. I kinda wish I could move out here by you." She said looking down at her feet and shifting from side to side. Carol looked heartbroken and I had to admit I felt bad for the kid.

"'phia how about this, tomorrow why don't you come help me move my stuff back over by you guys and you, your momma and me will move our tents a little ways away from everyone, so it seems like we have our own camp?"

"Yeah, I would love that Mr. Daryl." she jumped up and hugged me before going back over to Carol.

"No problem 'phia, is it ok Carol?" I asked.

"Yeah, I don't mind as long as she's safe."

"Don't worry nothings gonna happen to her with me there."

"Ok, well why don't we head back over Sophia? Lets grab the dishes and go."

"Ok momma, I'll go grab them."

"So we did good today?" she looked up, hopeful.

"Yeah, you both did, proud of ya. I'll see ya tomorrow, I gotta help Rick deal with this Randal guy. He's coming off bed rest and I got some questions to ask him."

"Just don't do nothing to hurt yourself. Be careful."

"I will, just stay away from him."

"I will don't worry. See ya tomorrow."

"Good night."

"Night Mr. Daryl."

"Night 'phia, see ya." I watched them walk over to the other camp before heading to bed myself. As usual I was up before dawn. I went hunting, managed to find a deer and some more squirrels. When I got back to camp I dropped the kills over by Carol and she and Sophia got right to them.

"Hey Rick, I'm just about to go talk to Randal, went hunting this morning and got some squirrels and more deer meat."

"That's great, thanks. Do you want us to go in there with you?"

"No let me at 'em first, see what I can get outa him."

"Ok, we'll be waiting." I nodded and headed to the barn where Rick and Shane had locked him up. I went inside, put my crossbow down in a corner and walked over by him. I kicked his shoe to jostle him from his sleep.

"Where's your group?" I got up in his face.

"I don't even know those people."

"Oh please, how many damn people are in your group? Answer me!"

"There thirty of us, they have heavy machinery."

"Yeah, what else?"

"We would go out scouting, just the men. One time we came across these young girls, real cute. The men passed them around, but I never touched them, I swear. They didn't even kill them after, just left them there." I started punching him in the face, I even took out my knife and started picking away at the scab that was forming over his surgery scar.

"So you like to rape little girls huh?"

"I told you, I didn't do any of that."

"Yeah, like I believe that, damn do I look stupid to you?" and with that I grabbed my crossbow and locked the door on the way out, and made my way back to camp where everyone was waiting.

**Carol's POV**

I watched as Daryl came stalking over to us, hands bloodied.

"Guys got a camp of thirty men with heavy artillery. His boys run through here and were dead and the women would wish they were."

"What happened?" I asked him.

"Had a little chat." he said before stalking back to his camp. I followed after him, some gauze and Band-Aids I keep in my purse in my hand.

"Did you get what you were looking for?"

"I got answers from him. Him and his buddies like to go scavange and if they find women or young girls, they pass them around and then leave. All I could think about was 'phia, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why."

"Because you care about her, that's why. She has a way of getting under your skin and staying there."

"It scares me, I've never cared about anyone else but my brother and look how that turned out."

"Sophia wont end up that way, and frankly I'm glad she likes you, so do I. You're a good man Daryl, I wish you could see it." I said and headed back to camp, I'd let him tend to his own bloody fists and his thoughts.

**Sophia's POV**

My momma had just came back after going over to Mr. Daryl's camp. I wonder if he is still gonna move his stuff over here.

"Hey momma, can I go ask Mr. Daryl something?"

"Sure honey." I went and grabbed a peach for him since he never got one and headed over to his camp.

"Mr. Daryl?"

"Yeah 'phia, whatcha need?"

"I brought you a peach, one of Hershel's daughters brought them for us."

"Thanks." I nodded.

"I was wondering if you still were gonna move your camp back over by my momma and me?"

"Yeah, just need to get my knuckles wrapped."

"Here I can help if you want me too. I know how."

"Sure, thanks." he held out his hand and the supplies my momma much have taken him, and I set to work, cleaning and wrapping his hand.

"There all done, I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No 'phia, how about we shart packing my stuff up and moving my things back?"

"Sure." I watched as he went inside his tent to pack up his clothes before handing me the bag. I gathered his sleeping bag and rolled that up along with the blanket he had. He then started taking down his tent and carried that along with his crossbow and extra arrows.

"Ok that should be everything. You got that 'phia?"

"Yeah, lets go. I'm excited that your coming back."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"I don't know, I guess I feel safer when your around."

"I'd never let anything happen to you or your mom Sophia, you must know that by now."

"I do but it still will be nice that you'll be closer." I nodded. We made it back to camp and decided on a more secluded part of the camp.

"We'll set up right here. I'll get my tent up first and then we'll move your guy's."

"Ok Mr. Daryl, I'm gonna go let my momma know that I'm back and that were moving our tent."

"Ok, 'phia."

**Daryl's POV**

I had finally got my tent back up and my sleeping bag and blanket back inside when Sophia and Carol came by. I threw my extra arrows in a corner and dropped my pack with my clothes on the makeshift bed.

"You ready to move your tent? Or do you not wanna move your tent?"

"No were ready, we have everything packed we just needed help with the tent."

"Ok, lets go over and get it." We walked over to her tent, the sleeping bags and blankets were outside along with their packs with clothes inside. I took down the tent easily and moved it right next to mine and they were right behind me with the rest of their stuff.

"Thanks Daryl."

"Yeah, thanks Mr. Daryl."

"No problem."

"Well I'm gonna go start of supper."

"Ok, I'm gonna re-arrange my tent."

"Sophia, do you wanna help with dinner or do you wanna finish our unpacking?"

"I wanna stay here."

"Ok, you know where I'll be if you need me."

"Ok momma." I watched as Sophia went into their tent and Carol walked over by Lori to help with dinner. I heard a commotion and people running, so I grabbed my crossbow and went out of my tent, stopping by Carol's to grab Sophia.

" 'phia."

"What Mr. Daryl?"

"Come on, there's something going on, lets get you over by your momma." she came out of her tent and followed me over to the others.

"Whats going on?"

"I don't know, Rick, Shane and Glenn ran down by the barn."

"Ok, I'm gonna head down there, stay up here."

"Yes Daryl."

"You too 'phia."

"I will Mr. Daryl, be careful." I nodded and headed down to the barn, when I got down there I saw Shane and Rick, Shane had a bloody face and nose.

"What the hell happened?"

"Shane said Randal jumped him and ran into the woods. We were jus about to go into the woods to find him."

"Your telling me that that kid got the jump on you. He weighs a buck fifty soaking wet." Shane glared at me.

"He has a point Shane."

"I'm just telling you what happened. Why are we wasting time with this? Me and Rick and you and Glenn, let's split up and start looking for him." I nodded and motioned for Glenn to follow me. It didn't take me long to find their trail, it looked like Shane and Randal were right on top of each other.

"Is that blood?" Glenn pointed to the tree.

"Yup, let's keep going." we walked a little farther until we heard the shuffling of a walker. I hid behind a tree till it came insight and Glenn did the same. Once it was killed we walked over to it.

"It's Randal." Glenn said, I looked him over trying to find some kind of bit mark or scratch but couldn't find one."

"His neck was broken, but no bite or scratch marks, that don't make sense."

"Let's get back." he nodded his agreement. Once back at camp we gathered everyone and told them what we found.

"No bite marks or scratches? Then how did he turn?" Hershel asked.

"Don't know but his neck was broke, and Shane and Randal were out there together."

"Will you please go see if you can find Rick?" Lori asked, I nodded and she thanked me. As we headed outside, we could see a huge herd coming our way.

**A.N. Well that was my longest chapter yet, hope you liked it. Next chapter will be the whole farm over run scene. Let me know what you thought! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything ****L**

**A.N. So glad that you guys liked the last chapter! This one will be the farm over run along with the aftermath of it. Hope you enjoy!**

**Carol's POV**

I couldn't believe my eyes, there had to be more than 300 walkers coming straight for us.

"What do we do?" I asked, grabbing Sophia.

"Get the guns." I heard Daryl say and Andrea went and retrieved them.

"We have guns, we have cars, this is my farm and I'll die here." Hershel proclaimed.

"Tonight's a good a night as any, let's go." I watched as Daryl made his way to his motorcycle, killing walkers as he went. Suddenly Lori came out of the house.

"Carl's not upstairs!"

"What?"

"He was supposed to be resting."

"Ok, we'll search again, come on Sophia."

"I'm comin momma."

"Hey Beth, Patricia can you round up some food and some blankets and whatever else you can find just in case." They nodded and we went our separate ways. We thoroughly checked the upstairs but there was no sign of him, we gathered up what we could as we went.

"Maybe he went after Rick or Randal himself."

"What do I do?"

"Keep fighting and don't lose hope." Lori went outside and scanned the area looking for either Carol or Rick, when she noticed the barn on fire.

"Hey guys, the barns on fire! It's drawing some of the walkers away."

"That's good, let's load up some of these supplies into the truck, I don't think were gonna be able to stay here." we made the first trip to the truck no problem, but on the second trip, Patricia got taken right out of Beth's hands. I grabbed Beth's hand and dragged her to the truck, pulling Sophia along with me. I pushed both of them inside along with Lori and T-dog. I stayed outside to kill a couple walkers that were too close and just my luck on fell on me. All of a sudden I hear the truck pulling away, so I hurriedly got to my feet and started running after the truck, screaming.

**Sophia's POV**

I couldn't believe it, my momma is dead. What am I gonna do now? I started to cry, Lori held me to her side.

"Don't worry Sophia, you'll be safe with us." Lori said.

"Yeah, sure."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I hope Mr. Daryl is ok, I know I'll be safe with him."

"I'm sure he's fine. Let's head to the highway, that's where everyone will probably head to."

**Daryl's POV**

I heard screaming, so I revved up my bike and headed down the gravel driveway, it was Carol doing the screaming.

"Come on, aint got all day." She climbed on and we raced away from the farm, I pulled over a little ways away.

"Is Sophia ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, I pushed her in a truck with T-dog, Lori and Beth."

"Good, I'm thinking that everyone is going to go to the highway so that's where I'm heading."

"Ok, I just want to get back to my little girl."

"Hey how come you weren't in the truck?"

"There was some walkers that were too close and I took them out but one fell on me and I think they figured that I was dead, so they left without me. Can't say I blame them I would have done the same thing."

"Ok well let's get going, wanna get there before Lori loses Sophia too." I started the bike, sat forward so she could get back on and got back on the road. On our way there we found Glenn and the farmer's daughter, so that was a good sign, hopefully we didn't lose too many people. Once back at the highway I saw Rick, Hershel and Carl. We were the first ones to arrive, followed by Glenn and Maggie, and finally Lori, T-dog, Beth and Sophia. Lori opened the door and ran straight for Carl and I saw Sophia jump out and run to Carol. What surprised me was that she came over to me and gave me a hug too.

"I'm glad your ok Mr. Daryl."

"Me too Sophia, I was worried about you when I saw your momma."

"I was worried that both of you were gone and I would be by myself, I only feel safe with you and momma." I looked down at Sophia and I could see the tears start to leak out of her eyes, so I got down on my knees.

"Sophia, don't worry about losing us. We don't plan on going anywhere for a long time yet, ok?" I wiped some of her tears away.

"Ok Mr. Daryl, I wish you were my daddy." she yawned and went over to the truck. I was shocked, she thought of me as a father figure? There's no way I'm ready for that, not after my fucked up childhood. I glanced over at Carol, she must not have heard the conversation, so I decided to deal with it later, we had much more pressing matters on our hands. I walked over to where Rick and Hershel were.

"So where are we going?"

"Well I was thinking Fort Benning, It's where we were heading before the farm."

"Ok sounds good, I'm gonna see if I can find a truck so I can store my bike in the back, then that way Carol and Sophia can ride with me."

"Ok, let me know if you need help." I nodded and headed over to the traffic snarl, lucking out when I found a truck that had keys and actually had almost a full tank of gas. I managed to get it out of the traffic snarl by myself.

"Hey, can you give me a hand loading my bike Rick?"

"Yeah." Me and Rick, with a little help from T-dog managed to get the bike in the bed of the truck with little problems.

"Thanks guys."

"No problem." they headed back over to help on watch.

"Hey Carol, you and 'phia can ride with me, I got me a truck."

"Ok, let me go grab our stuff from the other truck." I nodded, not long after I saw carol come back with their packs and 'phia in tow.

" 'phia you can hop in if you wanna take a nap."

"Ok Mr. Daryl." and she did just that.

"Well everyone, let's get on the road, see if we can find a place to stay tonight and then in the morning we'll set out for Fort Benning." Rick said. Everyone separated into different cars and headed out with Rick taking point. About an hour passed and Rick honked his horn, a sign to stop the caravan.

"Let me go see what's going on, stay here."

"Ok." I got out of the truck and went over to Rick.

"What's up?"

"Been running on fumes."

"Ok, why don't we set up camp over by them rocks and in the morning we can go looking for some gas and supplies."

"Sounds like a plan." Everyone lined up the cars to make a little car barrier, and Carol and Lori made something for dinner.

"So who did we all lose?"

"Patricia was ripped right out of my hands, daddy." Beth said.

"I saw Jimmy in the RV, it had been over run after he saved me and Carl from the burning barn." Rick stated.

"What about Shane, Dale and Andrea?" I asked.

"I lost sight of Andrea, but I saw a walker take down Dale." Carol said.

"Shane, Shane killed Randal to lure me into the woods. He was intent on killing me, once he got to the right spot, he drew on me and I put a knife in him."

"When me and Glenn found Randal in the woods, he didn't have a bite mark or any scratches on him, but he had turned."

"How's that possible?" Beth piped up.

"Shane came back as a walker too, he was going after dad so I put him down." Carl said.

"It doesn't matter how we die, at the CDC, Jenner told me that we all come back as a walker, were all infected." Rick stated, everyone gaped at him.

**A.N. Thanks for reading, I know this chapter was shorter than the last couple. I've been going back and forth between going straight to the prison and having flashbacks or go through the months between now and the prison. What do you think? Leave me a review and let me know whatcha think. Thanks again! **

**P.S. Can't wait for the new episode**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything, but if I did caryl would have happened a long time ago. **

**A.N.: So I decided to go through the months between the seasons, so here is the first installment of that, enjoy!**

**Daryl's POV**

It had been a month since that first night after the farm. We've been pillaging through houses, but we just couldn't find anything worth staying at. Everyone was getting antsy, we couldn't stay outside to sleep because anywhere we stopped, it seemed like the walkers were right on our asses. We finally got lucky, I saw a sign for a self-storage center about two miles from where we currently were. I honked the horn to get everyone to pull over.

"Keep your knife on you at all times if your going out, I'll be right back just gotta talk to Rick quick." I said to both Carol and Sophia.

"Yes, Mr. Daryl." I nodded and got out going over to Rick's car.

"What's up Daryl?"

"I saw a sign for a self-storage center about two miles up the road. Think its worth checking out. Usually there's a fence around the area and we can sleep in the units, there's bound to be mattresses in the units. Could be ok for a couple days while we search for more supplies and I can go hunting finally."

"Ok, let's go check it out." Rick said and we headed back to our vehicles.

"Come on 'phia, Carol, were leaving." I saw them leave Lori and Carl. I narrowed my eyes at the kid, he's gonna start becoming a problem soon. Can't have him corrupting 'phia. They got in the truck and we headed for the storage unit. It didn't take long to arrive, luckily it was off the main road a ways, so hopefully no one would see that we were here, and there was a fence around the whole property.

"Were gonna go check for any walkers, stay in the truck please, both of you."

"We will Daryl, I promise."

"Ok, be back soon." and with that I got out of the truck, grabbed my crossbow and extra arrows and went over by Rick.

"How bad you think it is in there?" Rick asked.

"Don't know, only one way to find out though, let's get to it." We cut the lock off and went into formation, Rick at point, me and Glenn on the sides. The storage area was shaped in a square with four rows and about twenty storage lockers in total along with a main office. That was where we found the only walker, looked to be the manager or some shit.

"Looks clear, let's bring in the cars and we can start going through the lockers." Rick said, Glenn and me nodded in agreement and went to our separate cars. I could see Carol and Sophia looking around anxiously so I waved to let them know that it was ok and got into the truck.

"We only found one walker, were gonna stay here to see what we can find. In the morning I'll go out hunting see what I can find, but for tonight were gonna clean out some lockers and sleep in them tonight." I explained.

"Ok sounds good." we headed inside to the storage center and got to work, we parked the cars outward so we could get away quick if need be, and started clearing out the lockers.

"Daryl would you take Sophia with you? I'm gonna help Lori with dinner."

"Sure, me and 'phia will look for a locker for us, maybe we'll find some warmer clothes and blankets, that would be nice."

"Yeah, tell me about it." said carol.

"Ready 'phia?"

**Sophia's POV**

"Yup Mr. Daryl, I'm ready." I walked right beside him as we stared on our row. The first locker was about half full with lots of bags.

"I'm gonna keep going down the row, see which one is pretty much empty, that's the one we'll be stayin in."

"Ok, I'll go through this locker, see if there's blankets or something."

"Be careful, if you need me just yell."

"I will." and he headed over to the next locker. The first box that I looked through was just papers.

"Useless." I muttered to myself, and threw it to the side, I decided to go through the boxes later figuring that the others would probably be the same. There was a couple garbage bags towards the back, behind some kind of cabinet thing. I got to the first bag, it had one blanket in it, so I put that by the entrance to the locker and went to look at the second bag. This was the jackpot of the locker, it had three blankets, and some sweatshirts. I rifled through the boxes and didn't find much except a couple hats and a pair of gloves. The rest was papers and useless junk, so I walked out in search for Daryl.

"Mr. Daryl?" I called out.

"Yeah 'phia?" I heard him call from a couple lockers away.

"I found four blankets, some sweatshirts and a couple hats and a pair of gloves."

"That's great, this locker seems ok to sleep in, I found two mattresses and with the blankets we should be good."

"Ok I'll go get the blankets and the other stuff."

"I'll be here." I turned and headed back to the locker I was in.

**Daryl's POV**

I watched as she left to go get what she found, and once she was out of sight, I started to get things sorted here. I had gotten all the extra furniture into the next locker so we'd have more room and spaced out the mattresses.

"Here Mr. Daryl, these are the blankets and the other things." I went over by her and grabbed the blankets.

"Wow, this is the most ugly thing I've ever seen, and I had some ugly blankets growing up." I said holding up this yellow and green plaid blanket. I heard her giggle before handing me the next one.

"At least this one isn't so bad, neither are those. Put two by each mattress, that way we can lay on one and cover up with the other. Gonna have to use one of our other blankets as a pillow though."

"Ok, I'm gonna go find momma, I'm sure that whatever they made for dinner is almost ready."

"I'll be along in a minute."

"Ok, Mr. Daryl, thanks for letting me help you."

"No problem 'phia." and with that she went out in search for Carol. I reached into my packet to bring out the necklace I found earlier, by some weird twist of fate it was a Cherokee rose. I figured that I would give it to Carol tonight during watch. I ran my finger across it before putting it back in my pocket and leaving for dinner. It looked like it was already done, so I got in line to get my food.

"Here ya go Daryl."

"Thanks, don't forget we got watch tonight, I got something for ya."

"I remember, just have to do the dishes after dinner and I'll be out."

"Sounds good." I headed over to our spot by the fire, 'phia on one side and Carol would be on the other. As soon as I sat down I started to shovel the food in, much of the food tasted the same so it didn't pay to try and savor it. Carol finally joined us by the fire after the last person was given their share. She gazed at me, watching me eat.

"You know, the foods not going to grow legs and run off right?" she joked, I looked up, grunted and went back to eating. Once I was finished, I dropped my plate in the little basin they had for the dishes and grabbed my crossbow.

"See ya for watch"

"I shouldn't be long." I nodded and left. About 15-20 minutes later I could see her walking towards me.

"That was fast."

"Yeah, Beth offered to do the dishes for me." I nodded and turned back my attention to watch. I was started to get nervous, I didn't know how to give Carol the necklace. So I decided not to say anything at all, and just handed her the box.

"What's this Daryl?"

"Open it." So she did, I stole a glance over at her and could see the tears in her eyes and she opened the box.

"Oh Daryl, it's beautiful. Thank you!"

"No problem, thought ya would like it."

"I do, can you help me put it on?" I nodded and motioned for her to turn around so I could do the damn clasp.

"There ya go." She turned around and the next thing I knew, we were kissing each other.

**A.N. Sorry this took so long to get out, got a new job so haven't had much time to write. More to come, review and it might make me write faster! ****J**


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